UK

Anniversaries are always good for the reading public, as publishers issue sumptuous books which at other times are often uneconomic. It’s the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s 200th birthday, and this has resulted in numerous new books. For my money this is by far the best. Steven Brindle not only has researched Brunel over […]

In the way in which the National Museum Wales portrays Welsh identity, it stands out on the international scene as a beacon for others to emulate. This book on Welsh Megalithic tombs follows on from Steve Burrow’s excellent catalogue of early prehistoric remains held by the Museum which it published in 2003. The photography and […]

Determining age at death is one of the first assessments made of a human skeleton. In juveniles, this is straightforward: the body is still maturing and the bones and teeth develop on a fairly predictable schedule. But how do scientists assess the age of death in adults? For over 70 years, physical anthropologists have used cranial suture fusion – the rate at which the skull’s plates mesh – as one way to estimate age for adults. Researcher Rose Drew, however, suggests this relationship is hardly so simple. Here she reports on her findings.

University College London’s Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology has won the Classic Award at the Museum & Heritage Awards for Excellence 2005, which celebrates best practice within museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions. The Classic Award is for ‘a museum that has been open for ten years or more, and that has continued to develop […]

Currently on exhibition at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum is an example of what many art historians regard as the Romans’ most significant artistic contribution: the portrait bust. The remarkable marble portrait, newly acquired by the museum through a London dealer, is now on permanent display in the Ashmolean’s Randolph Sculpture Gallery. The distinguished individual frowns slightly […]

Fake prehistoric rock art of a caveman with a wire shopping trolley has been hung on the walls of the British Museum. It was put there by art prankster Banksy. Bad Banksy, who has previously put works in galleries in London and New York, added a sign ‘early man venturing towards the out-of-town hunting grounds’. […]